Our garden is really producing right now. I have way more tomatoes and yellow squash than I can use. Every day, I go out and pick more. So I was excited to hear about Ample Harvest. They promote sharing excess garden produce with local food pantries. This reduces unnecessary food waste.
Food pantries can register with Ample Harvest to indicate that they will accept garden produce. I went to their website and put in my zipcode. There were quite a few pantries within a 10 mile radius listed on the site. The site states that you should call to find out donation procedures before heading out with your garden goodies.
I called one and found out they don’t take produce. So I informed them that they were listed with Ample Harvest and might want to have themselves removed.
On the second call I had success! It was a pantry about 7 miles away and they accept produce. So I hopped on the e-bike (more on that later) and I rode over there. They were happy to have the squash and tomatoes and told me I was welcome to bring more. And the bell peppers which are about to come on strong in the garden.
I don’t like throwing away food and the garden has a few weeks every year where it just produces a bonanza of food. So having a place to take the food where I know it will go to good use was worth the time it took to get it over there.
Donating food is such a great idea. Thank you for the inspiration.